


Everyone Always Leaves

by starsoverhead



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Gen, Mental Breakdown, Mental Institutions, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-27
Updated: 2012-07-27
Packaged: 2017-11-10 20:51:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/470556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsoverhead/pseuds/starsoverhead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The result of one close call too many.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everyone Always Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this lovely piece of artwork:  
> http://pagebreather.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=0#/d3k0178

“Everyone always leaves,” he whimpered, rocking himself back and forth. He’d wondered for so long if Gideon had the right idea, leaving like he did. If that breakdown he’d had after seeing six agents die was an inevitable reaction.

When the unsub had killed three SWAT agents, that had been bad enough. But then, right in front of him, he’d watched as, with sniper precision, a bullet had cleanly avoided kevlar vests to embed itself in Morgan’s skull.

“That’s what you get for kicking in doors,” he’d heard.

The man had taken longer to kill Rossi. He’d snagged him after Morgan’s funeral and sent back pieces of him until finally sending a photo of the dead body. And in that condition, there was no question he was dead.

Reid was already shattered when they buried him next to Carolyn, none of them having known that, for one day, Rossi had had a son. But when Prentiss died - really died this time - those cracks started to show.

The unsub had left a recording telling them that he knew just how difficult it had been, thinking Emily Prentiss had died on the operating table. “So this time,” the recording informed them jovially, “I made a video so you can see that she really is dead. You can thank me later.” Both it and the body arrived in Quantico two days later.

They had already been under protective detail since Rossi’s abduction. Since the case became personal. And the fact that he was being watched was the only way they knew to admit Reid before his attempt at suicide became a success. Hotch and JJ looked at him with pity and he hated it. He was only trying, he’d said, to get the job done before someone else could do it because they couldn’t keep each other safe anymore.

And it was only the fact that he was in the mental institution that meant he was spared the fate of the rest of the BAU. All it had taken was a bit of work to one SUV and the remaining agents had been sent flying over a switchback on a steep Appalachian road. “Messy,” the letter had said, “but it got the job done.”

Now Reid was alone and the latest letter had lodged that song in his head, the lyrics having been the letter’s closing. He always heard that song now, no matter the time of day. One is the loneliest number. And he was alone. And bit by bit, he was forgetting the reality of what had happened. It was so much easier to believe that they’d shoved him in there because of his migraines and decided that he wasn’t worth their time.

“Everyone always leaves,” he repeated for an uncountable number of times, lost in the horrific deaths his mind had invented for people who still came to visit, their hearts broken by the state their friend had been reduced to. The doctors had hopes that someday, the close call with the bullet would recede and let him start to see reality again, but until then, they kept him carefully restrained so he couldn’t hurt his body the way his mind had turned on itself.


End file.
